Young at Heart (1954 film)

Infobox Film
name = Young at Heart


image_size =
caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Gordon Douglas
producer = Henry Blanke
writer = Lenore J. Coffee
Julius J. Epstein
narrator =
starring = Doris Day
Frank Sinatra
music =
cinematography = Ted D. McCord
editing =
distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
released = December, 1954
runtime = 117 min.
country = United States
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0047688

"Young at Heart" is a 1954 film, directed by Gordon Douglas. It was a remake of the 1938 film "Four Daughters", and it starred Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Gig Young, Ethel Barrymore, Alan Hale, Jr and Dorothy Malone and was the first of five films that Gordon Douglas directed Frank Sinatra.

Plot

When song-writer Alex Burke (Gig Young) enters the lives of the musical Tuttle family, each of the three daughters falls for him. His personality is a match for Laurie Tuttle (Doris Day), both she and Alex seemingly made for each other. Soon they are engaged, although, when a friend of Alex', Barney Sloan (Frank Sinatra) comes to the Tuttle home to help with some musical arrangements, complications arise. His bleak outlook on life couldn't be any more contradictory to that of Laurie's and Alex's, and although the family welcomes Barney into their lives, a feeling of genuine self-worth escapes him, even after both he and Laurie fall in love and marry. Barney, with a black cloud perpetually hanging over his head, decides one evening to kill himself by driving on a snowy night into traffic with his headlamps turned off. Barney lives, and with a new found affirmation of life, finally writes the song he had been working on, finding his self-esteem in the arms of Laurie.

Original ending

The character of the self-destructive Barney Sloan was originally written to die at the end of the film when Sloan drives into on-coming traffic during a snow-storm. Sinatra, whose characters in his two previous films - "From Here to Eternity" and "Suddenly" - perished at the end, thought Sloan should live and find happiness. Sinatra's growing influence in Hollywood was enough to have the ending re-written to accommodate. Just the opposite would happen a decade later when Sinatra had the ending of "Von Ryan's Express" changed.

oundtrack

Songs from the soundtrack were released as an album by Frank Sinatra and Doris Day, also titled "Young at Heart". The album peaked at #11 on "Billboard" while the single reached #2 and was considered as Sinatra's comeback single after several years away from the top of the pop singles chart. So popular was the song "Young at Heart" that the film was also titled "Young at Heart", having had no title until the song's success. The song's popularity led to its being used not only for the title, but also for music over the opening and closing credits.

Iconic resonance

Frank Sinatra's persona in the film "Young at Heart" helped somewhat cultivate the image of the romantic loner that was often personified in the singer's albums. Sinatra's outstanding musical solo-pieces alone at a piano with shot glass, tilted hat and dangling cigarette, helped establish an oft-identified image with the singer/actor.

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047688 "Young At Heart" (1954) at IMDb]